On Saturday, September 15, the SAS Oregon Alumni spent the night at a private “sleepover” in the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Oregon Chapter Rep Abby DenUyl and fellow Alum, Jenni Remillard, who works for the Oregon Coast Aquarium, coordinated the “Sleep With the Sharks” event in Newport, OR.
It was such a huge success that it drew alumni from all over the state as well as a group who drove nearly six hours from Seattle, WA. The excursion included 27 SAS alumni, family and friends, many of whom had never been to an SAS alumni event before.
The sleepover was a family friendly event that started at 6 p.m. in the evening and ended the following morning at 9 a.m. The group enjoyed a fun-filled evening exploring life under the ocean and stayed the night in sleeping bags in the Passages of the Deep tunnels. Surrounded by sharks, rockfish and other sea creatures, alumni were lulled to sleep counting fish above their heads. They had the aquarium all to themselves and participated in hands-on activities planned throughout the evening including dinner; an SAS slideshow and scavenger hunt throughout the aquarium.
The following morning, after a light breakfast, they had a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium and got to see the Harbor Seals and Sea Lions being trained up close and personal. After the tour, alumni had admission to the aquarium for the day to enjoy the exhibits and reflect on their exciting adventure.
The sleepover was a memorable bonding experience for alumni, and they hope to do more events of this nature in the future. After the sleepover, Nanci Leiton (F’89) wrote Abby to tell her what a great time she had with her boys and the other alumni; “we assumed it would be fun, but the whole experience exceeded our expectations.”
Getting involved with your Semester at Sea Alumni Chapter is a great way to stay connected with the program and have a lot of fun too. Founders week is Oct. 22-27, so make sure to see what events are happening in your area and help us share, refer and celebrate!
